Family Vacation
by ScorchKnights
Summary: Squall and Rinoa go to Esthar to visit Ellone. Laguna and Ellone convince them to go on a vacation.
1. Aero Through my Heart

He sat at his desk, looking at all the work he had before him. Mountains of paperwork, a foot high, had been placed on his desk by his assistant. Form after form, request after request, thank you letters and even invitations, all required he's careful attention. The commander's work is never done.

The man let out a big sigh; he then looked at his watch. _ Almost noon, _he thought, _Rinoa should be here soon._ Squall looked back at the paper in his hand. _Let's see, the mayor of Dollet wants some SeeDs to investigate some monster activity in the mountains. I would rate this as a level 1 assignment. Some rookie SeeDs should be able to handle this job. I should send Quistis with them just in case._ He started typing the details on the Dollet assignment into his computer.

"Squall?"

He looked up to see Rinoa's smiling at him. _Hyne, she is beautiful…_

"Squall, it is time for lunch. Are you busy?" Rinoa opened the door further and walked toward him.

"I am just finishing up. I will just need five more minutes. So, just go on ahead." He looked back at his computer and motioned her away.

"Oh no you don't Squall Leonhart, you told me the same thing two days ago and I waited in the cafeteria for you for three hours. I am staying right here for five minutes then I am dragging you out of here." She plopped her butt in the guest chair.

Squall raised his left eyebrow. "Whatever." _I was hoping she had forgotten about that…_ He bit his lip. _I better finish this quickly, or I will never hear the end of this. _He concentrated harder on the computer screen.

"Man… this is boring" Rinoa looked around the office. The bird flying past the window caught her eye. _It is so pretty outside._ Her brown eyes scanned Squall's desk for anything interesting.

"You don't have to stay here; I will be down soon enough." It had been fifteen minutes, since she had let herself into the office. Squall picked up a manila folder to the right of him. _Ah here it is the new SeeD list._ _Let's see, who would be the best for this job…_ He glanced up at Rinoa. She was pawing at some stuff on his desk. "You are distracting me."

"I was just tidying up some of these papers." Rinoa tried to look as innocent as possible.

"No need."

She looked at the clock to see that fifteen minutes have gone by. After she stood up, she walked around the desk. Grabbing Squall's arm she started to pull. Pull as she might she could not get the man to move, "Come on Squall, you have had more than five minutes, it is time to go to lunch."

"Just five more minutes."

The bottom of her lip began to pout, she let go of his arm and started to walk back to her chair.

_She is so cute when she pouts like that._ The corners of his mouth curled into a soft smile.

"What are you smiling about?" Rinoa started to look annoyed.

"Nothing." As he shook his head from side to side, his smile widened.

"Tell me."

"No." His smile turned into a light chuckle. He loved pushing her buttons

Rinoa's face was beginning to turn red. She plopped down in the chair with her arms crossed. "You are such a jerk sometimes."

"So I hear…" His voice trailed off into his work.

"I can be a jerk too!"

"Oh, really?" He was treading in dangerous water. "What are you going to do? Wave your arms and turn me into a frog…"

Her eyes met his gaze. "No, I am going to do this…" She stretched her hands out, "Aero!" Rinoa had never seen Squall's eyes open so wide. He reached out to stop her, but it was already too late. The spell whipped around the office with a break neck speed. Papers, folders, and writing implements flew in different directions. The desk was void of all it once held. Paper rained from the heavens.

He slammed his fists on the desk, "ALL MY WORK!!!" He combed his hands his hair and sunk forward. He could barely contain the rage he was feeling. Squall gripped his hair tightly, trembling with anger.

Rinoa looked around, the office was a mess. _Crap, I over did it._ She looked at Squall, "Well, I guess we can go to the cafeteria now…" She smiled sheepishly.

His head jerked up so fast it startled her. "Rinoa…" her name sounded like a growl. He stood up and walked around his desk. Squall grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet.

"Ow…"

"Get out."

"I am sorry. I will help clean everything up. Please Squall." He gave her a stern look, "I was angry. You have been so busy lately. The only time I get to see you is at lunch and at night… And you are always sleeping at night." Tears began to appear and glide down her face. "I hate being second to your job."

Letting go of her arm, he turned away. _I am an ass. Wait a minute SHE is the one who destroyed my office and I am the ass? But, I have been busy lately._ His hand met his forehead._ And she really does seem sorry. I was kind of egging her on too with the frog thing._

He knelt down and started picking up papers, "You can help me clean."

Picking up the papers was the easy part. Organizing them was going to take the rest of the day. Neither one of them spoke to each other while they picked up the mess.

"(GRUMMBLE GRRRUMB)" Rinoa thought her stomach was going to eat itself. Clutching her stomach, she attempted to continue with the clean up.

"You are really hungry aren't you?" Squall didn't look up; he just continued to pick up papers.

"Yes."

"Let's go get lunch then." He looked up to show a small smile, "I am hungry, too."

She nodded with agreement, "Should we finish picking up everything first? There is not much left."

"Sure."

The desk had stacks of papers on it. Only a few remained on the ground. Rinoa went to one of the corners still covered in paper. As she began to pick up some folders she noticed a hot pink letter on the ground. It was addressed to Squall and herself. "Squall, what's this?"

"Looks like a thank you letter. I stopped opening them because they all say the same thing.

"It has my name on it too."

"Take it then." Without another thought, he placed another stack of papers on the desk. _Done, all that is left is the area Rinoa is in._ He began walking towards her.

Rinoa looked at the letter in her hand. _I rarely get thank you letters. Nobody ever wants to thank a sorceress._ She closed her eyes and smiled. "Thanks." She placed the letter in her pocket gently. She looked around to see that Squall had picked up the remaining sheets. She got up and walked to the desk with her stack. "Finally, we are done."

Squall walked up behind her. Gently wrapping his arms around her, he thanked her for the help. _Strange, he never really hugs me. Usually I do all the hugging._ Rinoa sighed, perhaps it wasn't such a bad day after all.


	2. Pudding

"What would you like, hun?"

Rinoa looked around to see what the cafeteria had available. "The chicken salad sandwich looks good today. So I will have two of those… and a chocolate milk."

"My, aren't you hungry today." The lunch lady smiled at Rinoa, handing off the tray filled with food. She snuck Rinoa a pudding cup and winked. She turned her attention toward Squall, "And what will you have, Sir?"

"The usual." Squall took the tray quietly from the lunch lady. He gave his student card to her in exchange. "I will be paying for Rinoa's lunch."

"Don't you always?" She handed the card to Squall.

"Thanks." Squall looked around for Rinoa. She was sitting at a table near the Trepies. _Hmmm… looks like she already started eating, she must have been really hungry._ By the time he arrived at the table, Rinoa had already eaten one of her sandwiches.

"How can you eat those things every day?" She motioned at the hotdog Squall was about to eat, "You do know what they are made of right? I heard that they are made of catcharpillars."

Squall took a bite of the hot dog, "Catcharpillars taste good." He smiled when Rinoa stuck her tongue out in disgust.

"Ewwwwwiee…" :P

"Actually they are made out of the T-Rexars from the training center."

"Really?"

"Yes, it would be a waste just leaving the bodies to rot, so after they are killed a cleanup team retrieves the bodies. We sell them to Balamb. Balamb makes the hotdogs and sell them to the world."

Rinoa continued to finish her meal. _Garden makes money on everything…_

She was halfway through her pudding cup, when Squall finished his hotdog. "The pudding is made from Grats."As quickly as the pudding went in, it was spat out. A napkin was used to wipe it off her tongue.

"SQUALL GROSS!!!"

He started to chuckle, "I was just joking." Rinoa glared with an intensity of a flare. Squall's smile quickly disappeared. He had angered her too many times today. "I'll go get you another pudding cup." Sheepishly he got up and went to get the pudding.

_That jerk, I get him to open up and all he does is make me mad._ She sighed and looked around. Squall was on his way back.

"Here is the pudding." Squall gently placed it in front of her. "I am sorry, I just couldn't resist."

"I lost my appetite." She pushed the cup away.

_Crap… I have to cheer her up._ "Umm… hey do you want to open that letter?"

She quickly got up, reached into her pocket and pulled it out. Rinoa threw it at him, "Whatever." She walked away fuming.

_Great, the only person who can stand to be around you and you piss her off twice in one day._ Squall looked up, everyone one looking at him. _I am such an ass._ He opened the pudding cup and started to eat it. He looked at the letter that had landed in his fries. _To Squall and Rinoa… I wonder who it is from. Most people address me as Commander Squall. _He reached out for it and picked it up, shaking it to get the salt off. Flipping it over, he noticed an Estharian seal on it. _Who would send a hot pink letter? And from Esthar? They always email me. I didn't think paper existed in Esthar._ He opened the letter slowly; his curiosity was getting the better of him. Inside were a letter and an invitation.

_Dear Squall and Rinoa,_

_Laguna is throwing a birthday party for me and I was hoping you two would attend. The party details are in the enclosed invitation. The ball is on the 15__th__ of June, but I was hoping you would be here on my actual birthday which is the 14__th__ of June. Please you are both welcome to stay at the Palace. I am looking forward to seeing you._

_Love,_

_Ellone Loire_

Squall read the invitation for further details. _ June 14__th__ that is this Friday, I won't be able to get Friday off. And Rinoa will be angry all week._ He looked at the ground. _What am I going to do? I was going to work Saturday to make up the work I missed today. Rinoa probably won't talk to me. Why me?_ He sat silently, pondering his predicament. He had to make amends with Rinoa and attend Ellone's birthday party. _Rinoa wants to spend more time with me. And I would like to attend my only sister's birthday._

He headed toward the headmaster's office. _Asking won't hurt…_ He arrived at the headmaster's office, it seemed deserted. He knocked on the door.

"Come in. Oh, hello Commander." Squall saluted the headmaster. Cid motioned for him to sit down. "I wasn't expecting you today; we have a meeting scheduled on Thursday."

"Well I wanted to ask a favor of you."

"Hmmm… that is a little out of character. Well…"

Before he could finish Squall cut him off, "I need a day off."

"Ahhh… you do have quite a few vacation days, so you could take a vacation. Let's see…" He looked at Squall's file on the computer, "you have 27 days of vacation. Have you never taken a vacation since becoming a SeeD?! Well I suppose you can take August off."

"Actually I just need this Friday off. Just one day."

"This Friday? Asking on such a short notice isn't like you. Must be important, I suppose you can have Friday off."

"Thank you, Sir." Squall started to get out of his seat.

"Just a minute, I don't want to be a slave driver. You need a vacation."

"But, I just need one day off."

"No buts, starting Friday, you will be on vacation. You will use all 27 days of your vacation time."

Squall's jaw dropped, "You can't be serious."

"I am serious. We can survive, Xu and I used to run the place without you, I am sure we can manage. Nida and Quistis can help with the workload. Just use the rest of the week, to prepare all the work to be handed off."

"But a month of vacation?!"

"That is an order, you are to prepare for your vacation and you will be back in one month's time." Cid looked at Squall, his face was stern.

"Yes, Sir."

"You are dismissed Commander." Squall got up and walked out of the office. He then headed toward his office to begin his new assignment.

_I asked for one day off, and I get a month. What is wrong with him? All his decisions are so asinine. Sending rookies to non ending contracts, sending them to kill a Sorceress, making me a Commander, and now this?! _Squall looked at his watch. _Almost four, I wonder if Rinoa and I will be eating dinner together._ He got to his office and sat at his desk. Turning his chair, Squall looked out the window. _Maybe…_ Squall smiled. _I should surprise her. But first…_

He picked up his phone to call Ellone.


End file.
